2 | Is NBC’s Andrea Kremer purposely trying to offend this year’s crop of U.S. Olympic swimmers, or is she merely clueless? That parting dig at reducing Michael Phelps’ 4×200 freestyle relay teammates to mere footnotes in his march to history has to rank as her worst moment of the games so far, no?

3 | How many times did you rewatch McKayla Maroney’s amazing vault during the women’s team gymnastics final? (Check out the judges’ reaction on the far left!) Where did the deductions come from?! And doesn’t this girl look like she should be on Pretty Little Liars or some other teen soap?

4 | How come the chilly London evenings have reduced most Olympic women’s volleyball teams to awkwardly trying to rock bikinis over base layers, but American dynamos Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh Jennings always look so sporty-stylish on the court — no matter the conditions?

6 | Whose Olympic smile shines brighter: Gabby Douglas or Missy Franklin? It’s a draw for us! Or has there been no sweeter smile than Nathan Adrian’s megawatt grin after his surprise win during Wednesday’s Men’s 100 Freestyle?

And that concludes the Olympics portion of this week’s column. Now back to our regularly scheduled programming…

7 | Who knew that handing Olivia Munn an intense, dramatic Newsroom storyline would deliver such fantastic results? Her rattling off the angry Japanese? In sexy librarian glasses? We die. And wasn’t David Krumholtz, star of the upcoming Partners, a nice touch as Will’s shrink?

8 | Given the way the POTUS gig has prompted our last three presidents to go rapidly gray, isn’t President Hammond’s jet-black coif on Political Animals a little unrealistic? Then again, isn’t everything about his character a wee bit cartoonish amongst the otherwise tense and thrilling machinations of the show’s central plot lines? And really, Susan Berg? You allowed that cheatin’ cretin a booty call?

9 | We get the gist, but what, exactly, did Breaking Bad‘s Walt mean by “Maybe he flew too close to the sun” in reference to murdered Gus Fring associate Victor?

10 | Did the final, shocking scene of The Closer this week remind you why Kyra Sedgwick has an Emmy, a Golden Globe and numerous other awards on her mantel?

11 | Did we accidentally tune into a bizarre-o world version of The Glee Project this week where the top three contestants were in the bottom? And as if Shanna’s elimination wasn’t infuriating enough, how come Oxygen had to go and spoil the ending with just a few minutes remaining by featuring Aylin and Blake in the preview for next week’s episode? Oh, and regarding Shanna’s exit, is there any other reality show on TV where being consistently good and avoiding the bottom three is more of a liability than an asset?

12 | Was there a more thankless guest star role on TV this summer than Brett Cullen as White Collar‘s FBI warehouse supervisor?

13 | Where do we sign the petition to keep Simon around on Covert Affairs?

14 | Who knew Pretty Little Liars‘ Caleb and Spencer had so much chemistry? In fact, it actually made us question our longtime ‘Haleb’ loyalties. And do you ever get the feeling that Emily could not care less about Aria’s relationship problems?

15 | Are you impressed and/or shocked that ABC Family can afford to send Jane By Design to film on location so much? First Paris, now London. Speaking of money, what was Gray thinking handing Jane a bonus check in front of all her employees?

16 | Between the 7th Heaven/Secret Life of the American Teenager,Grey’s Anatomy and Daily Show-like series within The L.A. Complex, is there a better TV satire currently on the air?

17 | Why does Rebecca’s hot not-brother on Dallas have to be such a bastard?

19 | With Project Runway mixing a Lexus product placement, the Emmy red carpet, a former Runway contestant, and two-person teams into this week’s convoluted challenge, wouldn’t it have been a good time to follow Coco Chanel’s take-one-thing-off rule?

20 | Are you having a hard time buying the Sadie and Ricky Schwartz storyline on Awkward?

21 | Wouldn’t it have been kind of interesting if Dianna Agron’s Quinn had made her Glee exit with that left-on-the-cutting-room-floor, giving-Rachel-a-harsh-dose-of-reality “Bridesmaids” scene that made its way to YouTube this week?

Hit the comments with your answers — and any other questions you care to throw out there!

Not only is his accent exaggerated in every way, but if Nixon found it difficult to be elected with the advent of TV debates…how did this guy get elected? With his accent and jowls all I can picture every time is a basset hound. I also wonder how Sigourney Weaver would ever end up with a guy like him?
Ok, if he is supposed to be acting like Clinton, sure…but Hilary was a little more on par with Clinton in the looks arena than this actor and Weaver.

I feel bad for Phelps too, because you can tell he gets uncomfortable when the media try to make it just about him. He was trying to make it clear it’s a team event and she wouldn’t let up! My 2nd favorite this week was when Schmitt won gold and Andrea closed the interview by saying she was glad Schmitt got cut from her soccer team. Seemed like a weird time to bring that particular failure up!

Thank JEEBUS someone else agrees with me about Andrea Kremer! She’s miserable! and SO clearly doesn’t want to be there! she doesn’t know the athletes and she is so condescending. I’m not exaggerating when I say she ruins every great Olympic swimming moment for me. And Dan/Rowdy are so wonderful, which makes her incompetence even more jarring. She is absolutely the worst. I’ve even gone as far as to email NBC Sports (several times) to express my frustration with her. I’ve never done something like that before! Someone who’s in charge – please listen! Get Summer Sanders! She works for NBC. or ANYONE ELSE. Michael and Missy have been class acts with her, but I think Michael Phelps is just retiring so he never has to talk to her again!!!

I totally understood the Glee Project results this week. They go with week by week performance, and Shanna did not have a good week! She struggled in the homework assignment, the studio, and on the shoot! Michael however, stepped up his game and showed improvement in both the studio and the video shoot. And though she is extremely talented, I understand what Ryan was saying, she doesn’t have anything to offer that the show doesn’t already have.

Of course they judge based on a week to week basis, because Glee itself has no concept of consistency. But that didn’t stop them from keeping Charlie, Lily, and Michael around week after week as they received the same critiques and did next to nothing to improve their performances. Sorry Shanna isn’t of a potentially-storyline-prompting religion and isn’t a straight white male, but she was hands down the most talented AND most likable singer they had. TVLine hit the nail on the head in their question .

She’s an amazing singer (and will probably be quite successful now that she’s in Nashville) but she wasn’t right for Glee. She wouldn’t have added anything. Glee doesn’t need anymore nice, white blonde girls with little personality. Aylin and Blake both deserved to stay more than Shanna.

I agreed with the results too…and I thought it was messed up that she said Michael deserved to be in the bottom instead of her since he actually did well this week and she did not. After that move, I was more than okay with her being the one sent home of the three. Besides, as others have pointed out, of the bottom 3, she was the one that Ryan clearly had trouble envisioning a 7 ep story arc for (not that he gave much for last year’s winners to work with though) and she did not help her cause when he asked her what character she saw herself playing.
Next week they actually have to act and not just mime to music…should be interesting to see how they do and who is considered the weak link…hard to say just from the video (which is already online). I thought Lily and Michael were destined to be the next to go (before Shanna even) but now I’m not so sure…

7. You missed pointing out the shout-outs to Doogie Howser and Krumholtz’s Numb3rs characters during his scenes.
8. Obvious dye job, and I totally lost all respect for the Hammond and Berg characters after that episode.
13. I SOOOOO want to keep Simon around. That last scene between he and Annie was outstanding!

#6 I’m pretty sure that Nathan Adrian’s adorable smile of shock and awe has every other olympian’s beat hands down. Though Gabby and Missy do have very infectious grins as well:)
#18 It was an intriguing non-answer she gave to the question, but also interesting to me was Louis’s following reaction. Seems like he likes Donna quite a bit himself.

agreed!! and it was so fun to see the footage of Michael & Ryan cheering him on in the ready room! the best was when he looked at the board & shook his head with this “I can’t believe that just happened” look on his face. he seems like the nicest guy & he’s one of the highlights of the Team USA “Call Me Maybe” video.

1 – 7 Olympics – I watched the opening ceremony ad have barely watched since then. It may have started earlier, but I noticed starting with the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta that NBC has tried to MANUFACTURE drama in their coverage instead of just covering the events and letting the natural drama come through. It’s a far cry from the un-biased coverage of Jim McKay on ABC – I guess that qualifies me as an old fart at 46.

10 The Closer – sorry, but for me that last scene of Brenda’s mom dead in bed was so predictable after Brenda told her mom they would talk after she got back from work.

As a general note, I have been disappointed in the storyline of The Closer ever since Kiera Sedgewick announced she was leaving the show starting last year and they began that plot line about Brenda being under investigation and getting sued.

13 Covert Affairs – Simon is nice, but I like the fact that they have not made him the center of everything this season – unlike Suits has with their returning partner storyline. Also glad to see Annies sister leaving because things between them were getting to be one dimensonal.

It was hard to see Augie go through his breakup, but I hear there are some scenes with him and a CIA therapist coming up, so that should be interesting. Sounds super silly, but I am hoping Augie recovers his eyesight through some miracle at some point.

Also, just waiting for the moment when Annie connects that tattoo on Simon’s back to the files in Jai’s / now Augie’s office. Now THAT is a well handled storyline!!

18 Suits – the scene with Donna was good, but IMOthe scene with Harvey and Louis in the restroom afterwards was even better. I have been SOOOOO disappointed in this year’s storyline regarding the former partner returning. It was nice for a couple of episodes, but it looks like they are going to drag this out for the rest of the season. For me, it just has a dark cloud hovering over every episode that I don’t like.

10. THE CLOSER: I mean anyone who’s either watched a soap opera or any form of episodic television knew what was coming, but I feel it was executed so well.

18. SUITS: I definitely agree about the scene with Louis. I enjoy the fact that Rick Hoffman is getting to show more than just a one-dimensional character. I’m actually liking the Hardman story, then adding Eric Close into the mix ramps it up another level. It’s fascinating to see how Harvey responds when not everything is going his way and we get more insight into Mr. Spector.

NBC’s Andrea Kremer is an embarrassment to NBC’s coverage of swimming events. I feel all swimmers should take Lochte’s move and swim off the excess lactic acid in the diving pool to avoid talking to her after their events.

The NBC coverage of the Olympics has been terrible, and that’s all I really have to say about that.
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I still can’t believe what happened on The Glee Project last week. That sucked out loud.
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The L.A. Complex is so good it’s almost baffling. Andra Fuller is turning in a pretty astonishing performance as Kaldrick King…he has really crept in to be the star of this thing, I think. I never, ever ever expected this show to be good in any capacity, and yet, here we are. They’re exploring some really interesting, ballsy themes. I’m really impressed!

^ completely agree. In the Greek myth of Icarus and his son, Icarus made wings for his son and him to escape the minotaur’s labyrinth. Icarus warned his son not to fly to high, lest the sun melt the glue holding the wings together, but his son did not listen. He flew too close and the glue melted, causing his fatal plummet to the earth.

Has anyone else noticed how much she looks like a younger Kate Jackson? When I first started watching I thought to myself, if they ever make a remake of Charlie’s Angels with the orginal characters she would make a great Sabrina.

7: By far Olivia Munn’s best performance ever. She was absolutely amazing and really shined in that episode. I never knew she had that kind of acting talent.
11: Agreed that is was ridiculous that the three best performers were in the bottom but out of the three, Shanna was the most deserving to be elimianted. However, it’s true that TGP is the only reality show where being consistently good is a problem and that’s pretty lame.
14: They do have great chemistry. It’s Spencer. She’s just one of those actresses who has great chemistry with everyone. Caleb, Toby, Wren, Ezra, Jason…I think she could have chemistry with a paper bag.
16: The LA Complex is just the best show on television right now, period.
21: If that was Quinn’s exit she would have left the show about 6 episodes early (that scene was from “On My Way”) and I’m glad that she went off to Yale and had that car accident storyline.

#4. I think that this is happening because most of the teams do not have their names, numbers and countries on their outerwear so they have to wear the identifying pieces on top. The Americans have all of that on their long sleeved jerseys so they are good. Seems silly that they were the only team to figure out that they might be playing in colder than usual temperatures.

Thats what I was thinking too while watching it the other night. When I mentioned it to my boyfriend he said that the US probably just has better sponsors and could afford to have their name on every piece of clothing. They seem to wear a different long sleeved top for each game, so they must have a large selection.

10. That was my exact thought…..I thought that last moment was heart stopping in the best way. And the way Fritz rushed her into the other room, slamming the door behind them then the secene going to black made me freeze for a second. Well done Closer.

The second Lauer opened his mouth during opening ceremonies I knew NBC was gonna be an even hotter mess then it’s been all year.
Did you not just LOVE Neil McDonough doing what he does best on Perception?? Not nearly enough screen time for him, it was like watching a toned down straight version of his Justified character.

I noticed Jordyn in the background and the dismissal of the rest of the 4×200 freestyle relay team, too. NBC needs to do something about their interviewing skills. I’m disappointed in the lack of equestrian coverage but it’s partially because they use up available time to show rowing and kayaking instead.
Also, I’ve been only watching Covert Affairs this season because of Simon honestly. But Eyal’s return in 2 weeks doesn’t hurt.

Positioning the camera in a way that let us see Jordyn crying was tasteless, but in the long run it will probably help her. She was already featured in an AT&T commercial. In NBC’s defense, I was surprised that they didn’t make Jordyn the central topic in during the women’s all around event. The UK commentators brought her up when Ally fell off the beam, and asked what would have happened if she’d competed, so I was very surprised that NBC was the one to show restraint, and let Gabby and Ally have the spotlight.

Since ep 1, I’ve been wondering “who the hell cast him as the President?” POLITICAL ANIMALS is a great show… Tons of fun… Juicy… Great cast, except for that Pres. Cartoonish is the perfect word to describe the character and the actor’s choices to play him so buffoonish.

Anther question regarding NBC’s less-than-stellar coverage: Is there a reason they are pretending Still Rings don’t exist? Not only have they not shown a single routine out of three full nights of all-around men’s coverage, they don’t even mention them at all, as if they were 5 apparatuses (apparati?) in men’s gymnastics